Whilst Im not a great fan of these cadet schemes, as these companies have been instrumental in driving the terms and conditions down in the industry for years, I do have sympathy with youngsters trying to break into the industry.
My advice is to look overseas, Africa is one with Botswana and Namibia being options and if he has any South African heritage and can get residence then He stands a fair shot of landing something with the charter operators. The loco’s in SA are hoovering up literally every available pilot so slots at the bottom of the rung are there